Page 61 of Daring the Forbidden Earl
Johanna made another strained plea against her gag. If she could have formed the words, she would have said, “Help! Untie me! You must help to free me!”
Hesitantly, the shadow continued on toward her. And as the person drew nearer, Johanna could make out the fine, almost elfin features of a young woman. She could not have been older than eight-and-ten, with long dark hair that was tied with a ribbon, and the widest, biggest brown eyes that Johanna had ever seen. But she was unnervingly thin, her collarbones protruding, and wore a threadbare gown that was almost transparent. With some decent feeding, she would have been a splendid beauty.
“Here, let me get that.” The woman crouched beside Johanna and unfastened the tie around her mouth, before plucking out the ball of fabric. “I bet that feels better, don’t it?”
Johanna inhaled deeply, and immediately regretted it as the fishy, rotten stench increased tenfold. “You must aid me, Miss. I fear I have been kidnapped, and I must escape.” She paused. “Were you taken prisoner, too?”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Carlton.” The woman dipped her chin to her bony chest, looking sheepish. “I didn’t want this to happen. I told him to just let it go, and that we’d find us another way, but he wouldn’t listen. He’s stubborn like that. But no harm’s goin’ to come to ye, I swear. I won’t let it.”
Fear spiked through Johanna’s chest a second time. “Who are you?”
“Ye can call me Lizzie,” she replied with a shy, jarringly sweet smile. “And I really am sorry.”
Johanna tried to grab the woman, but the bindings on her wrist stopped her. “What am I doing here? Who took me? Who has kidnapped me? And… what has become of my friend?” The memories flooded back in a rush. Nora being choked by a giant of a man, before being dropped onto the floor as though she were a piece of meat. And then that man coming for Johanna, before darkness had taken over.
“I don’t know nothin’ about yer friend, Mrs. Carlton.” Lizzie stood up. “I wasn’t told nothin’ at all. Just that I’d have to watch ye for a while. He said it’d be better that way.”
Johanna’s eyes narrowed. “Who said that?”
“I can’t tell ye that, neither.” Lizzie could not meet Johanna’s glare, and turned her gaze out toward the peculiar prison.
It appeared to be a warehouse of some kind, for Johanna had a thorough knowledge of such places, thanks to her upbringing. More often than not, she had been forced to accompany her father on his business ventures, mostly to act as a lookout for potential thieves. In addition, she had occasionally accompanied her wretched husband to the docks, when he was about to set sail on one of his naval voyages. And this certainly smelled like they were at a dock of some kind.
If I could only figure out which, I would know how far from safety I am…
“Am I at Wapping Dock?” Johanna probed.
Lizzie did not respond, she simply kept staring off into the distance, while she casually circled her palm against her abdomen. Was she hungry? Was this an attempt to stave off hunger pangs? Or was there something else afoot—a child, perhaps, growing within her?
“When is your child due?” Johanna decided to risk it.
Lizzie’s head snapped back toward her. “What did ye say?”
“You are with child, are you not? I recognize the signs, for I was once with child… though I lost the baby before I could give birth.” Johanna hoped she might be able to tug on this woman’s sympathies, mother to mother, for despite the circumstances, Lizzie really did seem like a sweet creature.
Lizzie gasped. “That’s awful.”
“It was,” Johanna agreed, meaning it.
Of course, she had not anticipated a pregnancy with a lover who would run away from her. But the moment she had found out, she had decided that she would love the child, no matter how it came into being. It had been the first time in her affectionless life that she had felt excitement, and she had known she would love the child and be loved by them.
But fate had other plans for me…
“He says I need to eat more, but I can’t keep anythin’ in me stomach. Were you like that?” Lizzie squatted down onto her haunches and stared at Johanna with interest.
Johanna nodded. “I had these tiny speckles all around my eyes from my daily ejections. I thought I was dying, in truth, until I was informed that it was an entirely normal occurrence.” She paused. “But I would go through a year of feeling like that, if I could hold my child in my arms.”
“Will ye have children with Lord Sinclair, do ye think?” Lizzie canted her head.
She knows a great deal about me.
It puzzled Johanna, as she battled to make sense of everything. The man who had assailed her and Nora in the hallway had not been Lord Dresday, but someone much taller, and larger, and hardier. A younger man, definitely. Could that have been the same man who had been knocking on her door relentlessly? She had thought it was Lord Dresday, but that was only because she had seen him enter the Baron’s building. Perhaps, considering the distance that the man had been ahead of her, it had distorted her perceptions of his height and size.
“How do you know about myself and Lord Sinclair?” Johanna realized she was going to have to be blunt if she wanted to gain any kind of useful answer.
Lizzie shrugged. “It’s just what me love has told me.” Her eyes shone with something akin to sorrow. “Ye weren’t supposed to be dragged into this, but when Lord Sinclair shot me love, he had to change his plans. I know ye probably don’t believe me, but I’m right sorry. I don’t like to see no girl tied up and scared like this, but it’ll be over soon.”
“What makes you say that?” Johanna pressed.
